Letter: Limits on free speech or terrorists reasonable

Published Sunday, December 10, 2006

Editor: With regard to the war on terror, it appears that some people are living in a state of illusion and denial. Unfortunately, this stupidity and naivete may only be dispersed after we lose part of a major city.

The fact is that we need to adopt rules of engagement that use every means to capture terrorists and pursue the ruthless people who want to kill us and terrorists should not be permitted to exploit our tolerance. This includes the protections that terrorists are using under the guise of freedom of speech. As Newt Gingrich recently pointed out, free speech is not an acceptable cover for those planning to murder us and the vast majority of sensible Americans agree with him.

Moreover, not all speech is permitted under the Constitution. For example, the 1st amendment does not and should not protect lewd and libelous speech. Former Federal Prosecutor Andy McCarthy put it best: "With an enemy committed to terrorism, the advocacy of terrorism the threats, the words are not mere dogma, or even calls to 'action.' They are themselves weapons weapons of incitement and intimidation, often as effective in achieving their ends as would be firearms and explosives brandished openly."

We therefore need the ability to close down web sites, etc., that recruit suicide bombers and provide instructions to indiscriminately kill civilians by suicide or other means, or advocate killing people from the West or the destruction of Western civilization.

Just as free speech protection should not be allowed to shield activities that clearly threaten us, so too should we not allow the principle of equality before the law to be used against us. In this regard, the preliminary evidence seems overwhelming that the group of Islamic clerics removed from the US Airways flight were intent on intimidation and publicity for their perverse motives. As more information comes to light, US Airways should be congratulated for their fair, sensible and professional handling of the scary incident.